"The Thorn Birds"--by Colleen McCullough--one of the most beloved novels of all time--sweeping family saga of dreams, titanic struggles, dark passions, and forbidden love in the Australian Outback--filmed as smash hit, award-winning TV mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain and Rachel Ward

 

The Thorn Birds

The Thorn Birds is a robust, romantic saga of a singular family, the Clearys. It begins in the early part of this century, when Paddy Cleary moves his wife, Fiona, and their seven children to Drogheda, the vast Australian sheep station owned by his autocratic and childless older sister; and it ends more than half a century later, when the only survivor of the third generation, the brilliant actress Justine O'Neill, sets a course of life and love halfway around the world from her roots.

The central figures in this enthralling story are the indomitable Meggie, the only Cleary daughter, and the one man she truly loves, the stunningly handsome and ambitious priest Ralph de Bricassart. Ralph's course moves him a long way indeed, from a remote Outback parish to the halls of the Vatican; and Meggie's except for a brief and miserable marriage elsewhere, is fixed to the Drogheda that is part of her bones - but distance does not dim their feelings though it shapes their lives.

Wonderful characters people this book; strong and gentle, Paddy, hiding a private memory; dutiful Fiona, holding back love because it once betrayed her, violent, tormented Frank, and the other hardworking Cleary sons who give the boundless lands of Drogheda the energy and devotion most men save for women; Meggie; Ralph; and Meggie's children, Justine and Dane. And the land itself; stark, relentless in its demands, brilliant in its flowering, prey to gigantic cycles of drought and flood, rich when nature is bountiful, surreal like no other place on earth.

“Beautiful….Compelling entertainment.”—New York Times

“A heart-rending epic…truly marvelous.”—Chicago Tribune

"A perfect Read...The kind of book the world blockbuster was made"--"Boston Globe"

 

 

The Thorn Birds

 

Winner of six Emmy® awards, four Golden Globe awards and countless nominations, The Thorn Birds is the second-highest-rated miniseries ever … and it’s easy to see why. Featuring an all-star and award-winning cast — including Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Barbara Stanwyck, Bryan Brown, Jean Simmons, Barry Corbin, Mare Winningham, Piper Laurie, Christopher Plummer and more — this epic drama set against the sweeping backdrop of the Australian outback tells of the taboo romance between a beautiful woman, Meggie, and an ambitious priest, Ralph de Bricassart, whose dedication to the church is greater than his desire for young Meggie — but barely. Spanning five decades, from a ranch in Australia to the Vatican in Rome and back, this seductive saga is based on Colleen McCullough’s bestselling novel about an unattainable and forbidden love. 

 

Colleen McCullough

 

Colleen Margaretta McCullough was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being The Thorn Birds and Tim.

Raised by her mother in Wellington and then Sydney, McCullough began writing stories at age 5. She flourished at Catholic schools and earned a physiology degree from the University of New South Wales in 1963. Planning become a doctor, she found that she had a violent allergy to hospital soap and turned instead to neurophysiology – the study of the nervous system's functions. She found jobs first in London and then at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

After her beloved younger brother Carl died in 1965 at age 25 while rescuing two drowning women in the waters off Crete, a shattered McCullough quit writing. She finally returned to her craft in 1974 with Tim, a critically acclaimed novel about the romance between a female executive and a younger, mentally disabled gardener. As always, the author proved her toughest critic: "Actually," she said, "it was an icky book, saccharine sweet."

A year later, while on a paltry $10,000 annual salary as a Yale researcher, McCullough – just "Col" to her friends – began work on the sprawling The Thorn Birds, about the lives and loves of three generations of an Australian family. Many of its details were drawn from her mother's family's experience as migrant workers, and one character, Dane, was based on brother Carl.

Though some reviews were scathing, millions of readers worldwide got caught up in her tales of doomed love and other natural calamities. The paperback rights sold for an astonishing $1.9 million.

In all, McCullough wrote 11 novels.

Colleen McCullough passed away January 29, 2015.